Birch
by Aerolith
Summary: Odd things happen when a teenage girl falls asleep in school and is thrown in to the world of Warriors as a cat. Follow Piper as every one of her efforts to get back home are spoiled by fate; the same fate that binds her to the cursed clan cats around the lake.
1. Chapter 1

**Eyy, welcome to my first _official_ Warriors story. You know, because I like seeing stories that actually make sense, and I've already read all those. **

**So, meet Piper, the poor teenage girl thrown in to the world of Warriors and needs to find a way out.**

**Minor language. Warriors belongs to the Erin Hunter. Everything belongs to their respectful owners, I only own my character Piper.**

_**This chapter is dedicated to my friend, Kalysta.**_

_**Happy birthday, nerd.**_

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"_You being here serves a purpose. You have twelve moons until your time is up."  
_

"What is that even supposed to mean, anyways?! I've got an entire year to do what, _purposely _laze around as a stupid cat?" Piper sputtered. She wobbled back and forth on her furry paws, trying to get a steady view of her reflection in the water of the stream that she woke up next to. The whispering, melodious voice lingered far after she'd opened her eyes.

'_Probably in some stupid dream._' She'd fallen asleep while watching a documentary in her history class and ended up 'waking up' in the middle of some field. And of course, standing on two legs didn't work as a cat that she somehow turned in to from her _normal_ human self.

'_I was perfectly fine before, thank you very much._'

It wasn't hard at all to be on all fours as a human, but with the drastic change in her skeleton, she could barely even figure out how to work her new tail. Everything was so...

Inhuman.

Obviously.

Piper found herself to be a white cat with longish, ruffled fur that made her look as if she used to live in a constant windy storm. Warm black was blotted across her snowy pelt, shadows mixed with very few brown and grayish hairs. Lengthy whiskers protruded from her snout and eyebrow area, blending in nicely with her black and white face instead of contrasting strongly and making her face look odd.

From her limited knowledge on cat breeds, she guessed that she could have been a Norwegian Forest cat. She accepted the fact that it actually did make sense for where she came from.

Piper was living–or rather, used to live–in Montana, almost constantly surrounded by heavy snow until a blazing summer rolled around for a short time and rolled right back out. She shrugged off the thought, but appreciated the feline style.

The 'cat' faced away from the stream and finally managed to properly balance on her paws. The field around her was covered in tall grass with reeds lining the thin stream that cut said field in half. From where she was, she couldn't actually see anything.

'_Okay. Uh. First things first... What comes first in this situation? Oh, right! Let's put first things first and find out where the hell I am._' Piper carefully walked along the stream, the fur on her lower legs barely even damp from her feet having been in the water. She moved slowly, but with a purpose to find any sort of distinguishing landmark.

Something like that.

The sun shone harsh on her back, heating up her fur until she felt almost uncomfortably warm while she moved. Up in the trees that were around her, the light flooded through the leaves and dappled the dead grass bordering the stream. Piper's face was hot in the stuffy breeze, despite it being autumn from the looks of everything.

Why would there even be a 'distinguishing landmark' out in such an open place? Piper shook her head and stopped when she noticed that she'd emerged from the crisp foliage that clustered around the stream.

A large lake lay a few feet in front of her, and she wanted to cry. Lakes did not help her at all in any situation ever.

Piper groaned for at least five seconds as she approached the body of water, walking along its edge for at least half an hour. She stumbled and tripped on roots and lodged rocks numerous times, but kept getting back up. No one was at the dock that she had passed, so she kept on. The thought of throwing herself in to the water to cool down came up a couple times, yet she always pushed it away.

Even at the second dock in her passing, no one was around. No one, and no thing. It was like the entire place was...dead.

Abandoned.

The only sounds around Piper included the light trickling waves of the lake and the thumping of her own footsteps. Uh–pawsteps. The near-silence reached through Piper's tufted ears and itched at her mind, to which she tried to make up for the emptiness by shuffling her feet–_paws_ along the loose dirt and tapping against smooth stones.

'_I swear that there was a thing I read once, something about not being able to read in a dream. Would I still be able to read and understand English speaking humans as a cat? Imagine if I could suddenly understand Russians. Now how cool would that be? Need a cat translator for your political affairs? Don't particularly care for that stuff, but I can speak German and Manganese! Wait, I think that last one's an element...'_

Piper waded through another stream and cringed as her fe–paws sank in to the thick mud. She tugged them forward, barely able to get one up before she became unbalanced and had to slap it back down in front of her. The water tickled at her belly before she hopped on to a couple rocks to get out of the deepest part before she got swept off by the barely-flowing water.

Either that stream was big, or she was just small. Probably the latter.

She leaped on to the other side from the lodged rock in the middle. Her muddy paws came in to contact with the dry earth, and she tumbled on to her shoulder.

Piper huffed and stood back up, trying to flick the water from each of her legs while she walked.

'_Okay, I am _tired_ of this stupid lake. Maybe if I walk in one direction for long enough, I'll either find something, or wake the hell up._' Piper turned away from the lake edge and towards the forest behind it.

The forest was thick and untamed. The trees grew spread apart, but their branches extended their reach to other winding arms, their leaves layering and covering the area below in shade and sparsely flecked it with light. Piper, of course, couldn't say for sure what kind of trees they were, but she could obviously tell that they were amazingly tall. Yet, they were not at all like the dark pine trees she was raised around, with their angry pine needles and violent need to litter the ground with their hell cones. The forest floor was covered in shrubs, bushes, ferns, different sorts of flowers, almost anything that Piper could think of that would be in a forest. Although, mushrooms did not seem at all abundant in the area that she traveled across, and were more rare than anything.

All sorts of scents floated through the air, varying widely from the swirling scent of lake water and fish. There was one faint smell that never changed in every direction that she went in. She couldn't pinpoint it for the life of her, but she was so curious to find out what it was. It was light, quite obviously smelled like the forest, but something about it was very...catlike.

A cool breeze ruffled Piper's fur, and she sighed in relief. It was a huge change from the stuffy air of the areas outside that particular forest, and she was thankful for the drastic change in temperature. It still felt like summer, but it was a lot more tolerable when it came to having the long fur that she'd been thrown in to that place with.

Suddenly, only a couple minutes from the shore, Piper felt a huge force slam in to her side and knock her over.

Before she could even sniff, she was pinned on to her belly with one of her front legs crushed beneath her. A weight was pressed heavily against her shoulders.

"Intruder!" someone yowled.

"Good nose, Mousepaw," came a voice from somewhere above Piper. Her eyes went wide, and she almost felt excited that she had finally found someone. That feeling was quickly snuffed out by the reminder that she was pinned and probably going to get cat-beaten up. "What are you doing on Thunderclan territory, loner?"

"Who, me?" said Piper, her voice muffled by her snout being half-buried in the soft grass below her. "Well, I _was_ minding my own business until you guys came along."

"Leave the territory immediately, or we'll have to force you," another voice hissed deeply. Unsheathed claws were the first thing she saw before the black paw registered in her mind as it was set down in front of her. She tried to look up, barely getting a view of the new cat that stood in front of her.

Black fur with a brown underbelly.

Amber eyes.

Especially long legs.

Spiderleg.

'Mousepaw.'

A _lake_.

'_Oh no. Aw hell. Oh my god, it's Warriors, no. Why did it have to happen to _me_? Why not some wretched tween who's actually in love with the series?_' Piper thought bitterly. She silently groaned, but felt her mouth start to move on its own.

"I came here to join Thunderclan," she said with a somewhat monotone voice.

Wait–

'_Hold on, what? I didn't__–I__–What?_'

"Take me to the clan leader," Piper demanded, still not in control of her _own vocal cords._

'_Who said I actually wanted to join? Well, technically it was me...but it also wasn't!'  
_

The cat above her seemed to hesitate before getting off of her. Piper stood up and shook the dirt and grass blades from her thick fur. Her almond-shaped eyes went from one cat to another. They were in a patrol, three warriors, two of them having brought their apprentices along. Their gazes seemed uneasy, giving away that they almost didn't trust the black and white she-cat, once a human, standing before them.

Not that they knew the human part.

Piper was definitely smaller than the warriors, and almost as big as the apprentices. She mentally frowned upon that, still the small one among whatever bunch she hung around.

One cat turned, then the rest followed after with two flanking Piper.

'_Why..?_'

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**That concludes our first chapter of this story! May be subject to change if it's something major, or just fixing mistakes.  
**

**Review and tell me what you think!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you _so_ much for the reviews on the first chapter, guys! I'm sorry if this took a bit longer to get up than all of you would've likes.**

**This chapter was originally supposed to be around five pages long, but I've split it in half to make this chapter and the next. So, if all goes according to plan, chapter three should be up fairly quickly while I take my time typing more.**

_**This chapter is dedicated to my**_**best _friend Kalysta._  
**

**_It's not your birthday, but it's a continuation!_**

* * *

The stares and vexed gazes burned through Piper's fur as she walked through the Thunderclan camp. The fixed looks itched at her skin and made her fidget while she followed one of the patrol's warriors, Whitewing, towards what she could only assume was the leader's den.

'_What else would it be? They seriously _just_ told me that they were taking me to the leader's den._'

Whitewing flicked her tail sharply downwards, signaling for Piper to stay where she was while Whitewing went in to talk with Firestar. Piper was confused, not seeing where the entrance was, as the entire wall was covered in brambles. She silently 'Ohh'd when she saw Whitewing twist around and squeeze through a harmless hole in the claw-like tendrils. Piper sat off to the side and turned to see the camp with her own eyes, ignoring those of some wary clan members.

Thunderclan's home was settled in an old quarry, cleared out of all of its human equipment. Instead, it was taken over by the proud clan of warriors. Basically, it was a stony hollow encased by tall cliffs. Short tunnels, indents, odd holes were all made in to something to benefit the clan, and the large clearing in the middle of the pit held the fresh-kill pile off to its side.

Thick bramble and hazel bushes dotted the sides of the hollow, some serving purposes while others were left untouched. A number of dark trees circled around the quarry cliffs above, standing outside of thorn-lined walls that protected the cats. One rock towered over the flat clearing, sticking out from near the leader's den and acting as a vantage point.

Piper slid her paws along the hard-packed earth, trying to get whatever soft mush was caked to the undersides off. It wasn't a very pleasant experience walking past the dirt tunnel to get in to the camp after someone didn't bury. She shuddered, but quickly stopped her actions when she saw Whitewing emerge from the thorny wall and turn towards her.

"Firestar would like to speak with you, now," said Whitewing with a murmur to her voice. She didn't seem at all hostile towards Piper, but wasn't welcoming either.

'_Okay, but, I thought that I was the one that was supposed to be 'wanting' to speak to Firestar? They can't just switch that around on me, can they? 'Firestar would like to speak to you now!' No, _I _would like to spe- okay.'_

Piper swiftly stood up and padded past Whitewing, mumbling a thanks. She nosed around for the entrance and quickly found it, squeezing in to the leader's den.

When her eyes adjusted to the dark, she looked around the cozy den. There, in his mossy nest, sat Firestar with his tall build and dignified aura with Sandstorm laying near him. Firestar did indeed have the famous flaming ginger pelt that Piper had read about, with the same brilliant leaf-green eyes that Piper could have sworn were glowing in the dark. Two nests were placed tightly against the back wall of the den, both such nests obviously occupied. The den was nearly dark, but Piper noticed that it was somehow brighter–no, maybe, easier to see in than she thought?

'_Woah, can I actually see in the dark? Now that's really awesome.__ Imagine all the books I could read with the lights off..._'

Firestar motioned her forward with his long tail, and forward she went.

"What is your name, loner?" said Firestar, his words sounding tough. They weren't loud, no, not at all booming, as it wouldn't fit him. They were more of a stony, unwavering sort. Not too deep, but they weren't light by any means.

Piper nearly replied with her own human name, but immediately figured that that probably wouldn't have been a good idea at all at that time. She quickly made a round through her head for anything that could have fit. She pulled back, as if not trusting these cats enough to give up her name, but was more just trying to stall for a small bit of time.

_Eyes, no. No eyes, not named because of that._

_ No good skills, just great baker–_

_ Black and white fur. Black and white–black and– _

"Birch," Piper responded quickly after all her thoughts raced through her mind. It was barely even a couple seconds later when she had replied.

'_Birch trees are black and white, right? Yeah._'

"Birch. You wish to join Thunderclan, is this right?" said Firestar, his eyes boring in to her. Piper did not crumble, no, she was strong, and she was going to gain respect. Though, there was no going back after her decision anyways.

'_Technically, no. I actually don't wish to join._'

She had to have said that she wanted to join for a reason, even if they weren't her true words. The false words could very potentially morph in to true thoughts if thought about and mulled over enough, and she knew that. To peak her curiosity was to implant those ideas in her mind, to tell her to join Thunderclan through misguided words, and then wonder if the words were wise or foolish. Why not join Thunderclan? If it wasn't a good idea, surely it wouldn't have been brought to light. There was virtually no downside to joining the clan, especially if she were truly to be staying in that place for an entire year, which ensured that there was no doubt that she'd be able to experiment and find out for herself if whatever words were true to their whispered promise. To fulfill whatever desire Starclan had when they yanked her from her reality, or if she was supposed to be dreaming at that moment, she'd sure as hell make the best of it.

Piper was pretty sure that those last thoughts made absolutely no sense. Probably a one-time deal, like redeeming a game code, getting a ton of perks, clicking past too fast, then groaning because you couldn't remember what you just got.

"Yes," said Piper, tacking on her formal posture and words. It felt a mite uncomfortable, only because she had been so used to being lax with herself as a human. She never held up an act of professionalism, not when it wasn't necessary in a good chunk of situations that she was thrown in. However, Piper did know how to be 'formal' in most parts.

'_Because saying 'yes' is just that formal. Obviously._'

She could see Firestar looking at her, as if unsure, so she started to speak again. She wouldn't want him to reject her outright without her explaining herself, now would she?

"I've only ever wanted to be a warrior! I'm not even eight months old–eight moons, right? Let me join...please? I'll do my fair share of the work and maybe even more, and I won't be a dead wei–useless cat," said Piper strongly. Her voice was pleading, but proud and didn't shake at all, as she wasn't really that scared of anything at that time. Also, she wasn't exactly that excited to be getting in to Thunderclan, seeing as how it was never even her choice to begin with. She almost felt like a child trying to talk their parents in to getting a new pet.

Firestar's eyes searched her for a few seconds before he breathed something to Sandstorm, to which she mumbled back. The low conversation didn't last for long before Firestar turned back towards Piper. He took in a deep breath.

"Thunderclan will accept you as an apprentice for now, but if you do not prove your worth until the time you rightfully become a warrior, you won't be able to stay," said the leader. He stood from his nest, shook off the clinging piece of moss from his paw, and walked past Piper.

'_Wow, I didn't actually expect to..? That is awesome._' Piper stood as well and turned, though nearly ran in to the ginger tom's chest.

"I'll announce this to the clan. I warn you, Birch, that not all of the clan will be happy about this. Some may question you, but you have to be ready. We've accepted non-clan blood like you in the past," he meowed. His eyes held warning in them, Piper could tell. She gave a small nod, and Firestar continued out in to the camp with Piper following soon after.

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**Chapter three should be out some time soon, maybe within the next hour, maybe tomorrow. I've just gotta throw in some few last-minute edits/revisions and we'll be good!  
**

Review and kindly tell me how it is!

_Posted 3-26-15_


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